June 10, 2016

I have some big news!

Hey ya'll. I have some exciting news. There's so much going on to tell you guys about. We'll get to the big stuff in a minute. But, first, Ava turns a year old on June 23rd and I can barely believe it. Who knew you could love another person so intensely?! And we can't even conversate yet! Although she does say 'TeeTee' (Tootie), dada, ball, and duck. (Priorities, obviously.)

We took Ava on her first airplane ride two weeks ago. We went to Utah for our niece's graduation. Ava looked so cute (in the baby carrier situation, seen below) that it felt like walking through the airport as a celebrity (Or so Jesse said. I wouldn't know as everyone was staring at Jesse). The airplane adventure really started out so well, us giggling over how ridiculous she looked in the baby bjorn and feeling like we could totally pull off this traveling with spirited baby thing.

And then, by the time we were about to land in Denver, Ava had cried through about 2/3 of the trip, and we had experienced the most turbulent plane ride of our lives.

And as if that wasn't fun enough, as we were about to land, Ava projectile vomited three times into my black maxi dress. Three. There was barf in my purse, in my hair, in my flip flops...I exited the plane with a naked baby, holding my puke dress and trying to contain the disaster until we got to the bathroom.

There were about 100 people standing at the gate waiting to board the plane.

And then we had 30 minutes to catch our connecting flight to Salt Lake City.

It was just such a special day, ya'll.

She's pretty cute though, right?

So, Utah was beautiful. We had a really good time. Jesse's parents flew in from Florida, and it was great to hang out with everyone and let Ava crawl around and try to eat everything on Missy's floor (his sister that lives in Utah).

All in all, a great time with family, very rejuvenating, even after the barf debacle.

Also, Ava did totally fine on the plane ride back. Although, if you've ever flown with a baby like mine, who just wants to crawl and move and explore people's shoes, you know that by the time you get off of a 3 hour flight, all you want to do is go home and play dead in your bed for 48 hours.

But, you can't, because you have a baby.

It's intense, people.

But, omg, the love runs deep.

Since we've been home it's been beautiful here, although really hot (but, I love that kinda weather) so we've been spending a lot of time outside, swimming in our 'above ground pool'.

Money can't buy you class. Elegance is learned, my friends.

And as of today, we've been spending a lot of time sitting on patios and going for walks at the park because we have to get out of our house so that strangers can walk through it.

Because this is happening!

Yep! I'll go into much greater detail in my upcoming posts, but for now, all I'll say is that we found another fixer upper in our dream location and it was too hard to pass up. So, we bought it. We have so much work to do, and will basically be starting over on a whole other house all the way across town!

I can't even tell you how excited I am, and I can't wait to tell you all of the details about the new place. There will be some crappy before photos, that's for sure. We just listed our current house for sale last night and have already had a few showings, so I'm hoping it goes quickly so that we can get started on the new place.

I know a lot of you will be sad to see us leave this home. And I know....I feel it, too. I will miss this house so much! It was our first house, the house where my blog was born, the house where Ava was born, the house where I went from age 26 to 32 and basically grew into myself. It really inspired a whole new direction for my life. It will always be so special to me. But, it's time for us to move on to an exciting new chapter in our lives, and it's time for this house to inspire the next family.

Thank you guys so much for following along throughout this chapter of my life. It's been such a gift to have this place where I can tell people about my life and my home. I'm so excited to invite you into my next home in the same way. It's probably gonna be crappy and ugly for awhile as we slowly breathe life back into it, but I promise to take you along for the ride and just let you bear witness to my inevitable design mishaps and (hopefully) glories.

Also, Ava is (almost) one, and I'm about to have a lot of stuff to share in regards to renovating our next home, so hopefully I can find my way back to being a working woman with life goals (aka posting regularly).

Oh you poor thing with the vomit fiasco! My son is 7 1/2 mos. now and they sure make life adventurous!! I agree sometimes I just want to sleep for hours after enduring something hectic, but babies have dofferent agendas...wish I could bottle up their energy and sell it! I'm so excited for you and your family with the new house. But selfishly I'm even more excited about seeing the new place and what you do with it! =)

A new house just means a whole new venue to work with... I'm totally living vicariously through your decorating adventures! Congrats! And I always appreciate your honesty about the less-than-glam side of motherhood. The messes of childhood are the memories of motherhood!

I just loved reading about your recent flight. The first time my husband and I flew with our firstborn, he was only two months old. Just before we boarded, he had one of those diapers that blew out his entire outfit. Either due to the unexpectedness of our flight (we had been vacationing in the mountains when we suddenly needed to fly to Florida for a funeral) or because we were newbie parents, we somehow did not have a spare set of clothes for him. There I was, carrying a newborn on the airplane in nothing but a diaper and a blanket. I was SO mortified! I was sure people were thinking, "Why is that mom bringing her baby on a plane half naked?" LOL. The things we go through as parents.

Congrats on the new house! I am so excited to watch you transform another home.

Oooh! Congratulations with the new house! I am personally very excited with you about this new chapter in your life, and it will be such a pleasure to follow your adventure and see you do your fab magic! Good luck and much love to you and your family from Australia <3

Congratulations, Ms. Virginia! I've been following your blog almost since the beginning and I really enjoy it. Really looking forward to seeing you Virginia-fy another home. Blessings to you and your beautiful family.

I must be wayyyyy behind on your blog post because I didn't even know you had a babe!! Oh my geezum!! She's precious! ! I've gotta stay up to date with you, Virginia. .. I do remember your name, lol!! Cannot wait to see whats in store next. Congratulations!

WOW!!!! What more could a girl ask for? A beautiful, healthy baby, a great husband/dad and some brand new digs to work your creative magic on. Can't wait to follow along for the ride. Let's just hope this one is less turbulent than that place ride! Congratulations!

I laughed when I read about your 'barf' experience. I had the exact same happen to me as we were boarding a flight in Australia to travel to England .. a 24 hour flight. My one year old was sick allover me as we waited in line to board. I had to rush to the bathroom to clean up and change into the clothes I had for the English end of the flight. My one year old is now 30 and I still occasionally remind him of it.....as you do!! Best wishes for your new venture. Cheers from Lindsey in Brisbane Australia.

A new house? This is SO exciting! Ava is so cute, too! ;) My little baby girl (Ariah) will turn one on July 8th. We live near SLC, UT...glad you had a fun time during your visit! I love your writing style and ideas...I get so excited when I see you've got a new post up! Glad to hear you'll be posting more in the future. ;)

Great news, Virginia! I can't wait to get the grand tour! I can't believe Ava is one, either, because my son is only a couple months younger and I remember reading about your pregnancy while I was pregnant with my first, too...I think time goes onto fast forward mode post-babies! Congrats on your new home--I expect you will have many others who look forward to seeing you transform a new place --and by the way, you inspired me to create my own blog at long last, something I've wanted to do for years, so thank you for that!

How exciting!! Loved all the DIY you did. Then that big Reno will really sell your house. I wonder if you'll go a new direction?!!! Because after all. Most of your things were DIY projects so you'll get to create and show us new things. Although I still love your spray paint phase!!!

Congratulations on your big news! It will be sad to see your beautiful home go, but how exciting! And thank you (as always) for making me laugh out loud at your delightful stories!! Funnily enough, we have just been invited to a wedding in Utah. We won't be travelling with a baby... Unless you include a 40-something who's scared of flying!! Happy 1st Birthday to Ava for the 23rd. Sue J @SuzyHomemakerUK

Congratulations! I'm eager for your posts about the remodeling! We're moving from our first home together to Astoria Oregon. We don't have a house yet. Hoping for one without a lot of updates needed, but ready for changes we want to make. Keep on inspiring!

Oh. My. Goodness. I'm still chuckling about the plane experience. Hopefully enough time has passed that you can laugh now. And happy birthday!!! At least, I thought I remembered from last year that today is your birthday. It's mine, too! I've been lurking for a year or so, and posting for the first time today. I spray painted an ornate antique picture frame for our mantle and found you through Pinterest and one of your frame posts. Have a great day! I'm excited to see the new place.

Sounds wonderful, trip, baby BD, and a new home to renovate and put your stunning ideas in gear again! Posted a note to you a few days ago when I saw your home in the local RE listings. Since you hadn't blogged since April, I could find no updates as to what your new plans were. So glad to see you posted the news! Looking forward to going along on the new venture with you! Love & Luck to you! And Happy Birthday to Ava! God Bless!

Hi Virginia, Happy Birthday to Ava! I Love reading your posts and seeing the before and afters. I live in Marblehead Ma, a little seaside town 20 minutes North of Boston. You have given me so many ideas. Now I need to get busy. Best of luck on your new adventure! All the Best, Marcy

Hi Virginia,Happy Birthday to Ava! I love reading your blog and seeing all your before and afters. I live in Marblehead, Ma a little seaside town 20 minutes north of Boston. You have given me such great ideas, it's time for me to get busy and get all my projects done. Thank you and Best of luck on your new endeavor!

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Hi! I'm Virginia! I'm a newlywed & new homeowner who loves decorating and DIY projects. Making something new out of something old is what inspires me! I'm constantly looking for affordable ways to transform our house! This is my place to share inspirations and DIY! Oh, and maybe talk a little bit about my love for very fat cats. View my story